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She made a triumphant return to the US Top 1000 last year.

Thanks to Sarah for suggesting Farrah as our Baby Name of the Day.

Farrah is an Arabic name, also spelled Farah, meaning joy.

About Abby Sandel

Whether you're naming a baby, or just all about names, you've come to the right place! Appellation Mountain is a haven for lovers of obscure gems and enduring classics alike.

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What do you think?

14 Comments

  1. Hello, I love this name but was wondering if you have more to say about it? This post is just a couple of sentences. Thank you 🙂

  2. Although a pleasant enough name – I pronounce it Far-uh, with a british accent. It has far too many ‘screen’ ties and is therefore unusable. A bit like Hermione, a word so few people were aware of pre Harry Potter, but is now known by the majority of the world to be a busy haired bossy kid. Just a Farrah will be blonde.

  3. I love the name Farrah! It doesn’t seem that rare to me, at least from where I’m from. I know a Farrah, and now that I think of it, her sister’s name is Nassreen so they must be of Arabic descent, but the name doesn’t scream Arabic to me. I just think it’s a pretty name!

  4. While I’ve know a few women named Farah and never had a problem with the name. But Farrah is a different story. I don’t believe I’ve ever watched Charlies’ Angels, but the show was such an pop culture icon I can’t divorce the name from Jiggle television of the 70’s.

  5. I completely agree with your assessment of Farrah: “A wearable Arab option but quite closely tied to bearers of the name”. I really love the meaning of joy, but I do think she’s too connected to Farrah Fawcett and then the girl from Teen Mom. I would hate to continually explain that my child was NOT named for either actress/woman.

    Another strike against Farrah in my opinion is that in Arabic she’s pronounced with a hard H at the end. Not a deal breaker but definitely a minus. Plus, I don’t know if I’m vain enough to have my child’s name rhyme with my own 🙂

  6. I have always liked Farrah, I have no idea why. Farrah is certainly not my naming style, but I think it has a nice soft sound and a great meaning (joy) 🙂

  7. Am I the only one who pronounces it Far-uh and not fair-uh? Although I do pronounce Sarah like Sair-uh – but again I pronounce Sara sar-uh. I’m weird like that.

    Anyway, I love this name, it’s one of my favorite girl names. Where did you get the info that it could be masculine too?

    1. I love this name. I am due in June 2013 and I considering naming my baby girl Farrah. Nothing to do with the name’s screen ties, I just really love the name, especially since it sounds great with my last name.

        1. Yes! So funny, I am pregnant with my 2nd baby girl now and I think I’ve settled on Farah. I ended up naming my first Elora. I totally forgot that I left this comment and was surprised to see my comment here. Ha! 🙂

  8. I’m continually amazed by the influence soap operas, and now more so, reality shows have on naming trends. It seems bizarre to me that someone would want to name their child after someone they saw on Teen Mom, but I don’t really think it’s usually a case of “naming after” so much as having some repeated exposure to a name they weren’t familiar with before and the name starting to grow on them.

    I find it hard to consider Farrah objectively because, for me, the name is so tied to Fawcett and the sexy image she represented at her peak. I don’t much like the similarity in sound to feral. I have yet to meet a Farrah in real life from the 1976 cohort. I have, however, meant countless women over the years whose hairstyles were influenced by Farrah Fawcett. 😉

  9. Sabrina was *my* favorite Angel. Still my favorite of their names too. Farrah’s too Arabic for this Russian/Scot. Pretty though!